Stories with a Heartbeatis a new WUNC podcast about the human condition in conflict. Host Will McInerney is an award-winning poet who travels the globe exploring conflict and what it says about us as people. Stories with a Heartbeat taps into the power of poetry, stories, music, and conversation to help us decipher conflict and find meaning.
You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes and Google Play. Check it out and leave a review!
From interpersonal to geopolitical, from the classroom to the courthouse, conflict is all around us. But do we understand it? This podcast explores the human stories buried deep inside friction and seeks to help us connect and understand.
All too often conflict is sensationalized, simplified, and dehumanized. This leads to disconnect, to misunderstanding, and to more conflict. This podcast is looking for new answers. Stories with a Heartbeat uses a creative approach rooted in a fusion of journalism and verse, facts and metaphor.
This is not the news hour. This is not a poetry show. This is what happens when you hold a radio mic in one hand, and a poet’s pen in the other. This is Stories with a Heartbeat.
You can download the first three episodes on iTunes, Google Play, NPR, or your podcast platform of choice.
In episode one,host Will McInerney talks with Farris Barakat about the night his brother Deah was killed along with Deah's wife Yusor Abu-Salha and sister-in-law Razan Abu-Salha. All three Muslim-Americans were shot execution style in their home.
In episode two, reporter Reema Khrais shares her personal connections to the Chapel Hill Shootings, and host Will McInerney travels to the Syrian border to visit a dental clinic named in honor of Deah, Yusor, and Razan.
In episode three, we follow Farris Barakat to Reyhanli, Turkey where he is working to complete his brother's mission and help Syrian refugee kids smile.